Foy Receives 40-year Term For Killing Girlfriend

5 Years Suspended Due To His Cooperation

ISLE OF WIGHT — Confessed killer Bill Foy likely will spend the rest of his life in prison.

A circuit court judge sentenced the 50-year-old Carrollton man to 40 years Wednesday despite Foy's tearful testimony that he loved the woman he strangled.

At the start of the hearing, Foy, clad in a blue suit, white shirt and tie, was led by sheriff's deputies to a seat next to his attorney Patrick Paciello. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder charges in August.

Authorities accused Foy of strangling his girlfriend, Valerie Adams, 45, in his Carrollton home on March 18, and burying her naked body in a marsh in Currituck, N.C. The two had spent an evening having dinner and drinks at the Smithfield Inn and then at a friend's house just hours before the murder. Foy was missing for days after the killing until an anonymous tip led police to the Chesapeake motel where he was staying.

For the first time and perhaps the last, Foy spoke to the court and the Carrollton area victim's family on Wednesday. He appeared pained and sad.

"In the 18 months that Valerie and I dated she had become everything to me. ... I'm sorry that I took Valerie's life," he said, sobbing intermittently in a strained, high-pitched voice.

"She had been my partner, my best friend and, next to the birth of my son, the best thing that ever happened in my life," said Foy. "I miss her so much. If there was anything I could do to bring Valerie back, I'd give my life to do it."

Before the sentencing, Commonwealth's Attorney Parker Councill said Adams' death was a particularly severe instance of second-degree murder. Unlike many second-degree murder cases, he said, this was not a case where there was a sudden flash of rage that ended in a shooting or stabbing and was followed by remorse.

Councill asked the judge to consider a sentence in the 20- to 40-year range. He suggested that keeping Foy in prison would protect society.

"A person who could do this is a person who is capable of anything."

Paciello argued for leniency. He said Foy fled in panic after the killing and returned to the area to do the responsible thing.

"The evidence shows that he came back to Chesapeake," Paciello said. "He came back to resolve this. Something should be given for taking responsibility."

Parker said that while all murders are horrible and heinous, "This is as bad a second-degree case as there is." He then sentenced Foy to 40 years in the state penitentiary with five years suspended for cooperating with authorities after the murder. A 40- year sentence is the maximum allowed under the state's sentencing guidelines.

Valerie Adams' family hugged and kissed one another after the sentencing.

Jessica Adams, the victim's daughter, said she was satisfied with the outcome.

But the murdered woman's sister, Gwen Tatum, wasn't so sure.

"There'll never be enough justice," she said. "I don't believe in the death penalty, but 40 years is not enough.

"How can you take a life of somebody you're supposed to love?"

Keith Rushing can be reached at 247-7870 or by e-mail at krushing@dailypress.com